There is Bietes Maryam and Meshel;Medhame Alem and Golgotha Mikael;Denagle Virgius and Saint Giyorges;and the pleasing, familiar sound of Biete Lehame.

Absent explosives, patching concrete,jackhammers and bills of sale, Lalibelahas no satisfactory explanation in dreamor logic, no complementary architecturewith which to gauge its forebears orits progeny.

Like Michelangelo’smuscled man, these are the ancient,nascent forms within the functionof our surfaces. These are the reasonsof which our reason knows not.